Chapter 1605: Go to Huaxin International

At this time, Wu Minghan noticed that Zhou Xue, the executive director of Huaxin International, happened to pass by with a cup of coffee.

Zhou Xuezeng has held important positions in the Industrial and Construction Committee and has extensive connections.

"Mr. Zhou!" Wu Minghan called him quickly: "Look over there, Academician Chang and Director Luan..."

Zhou Xue looked in the direction Wu Minghan pointed, a look of understanding appeared on his face, and he nodded.

"Academician Chang, of course I'm here to attend the meeting." His tone was very normal, as if this was the most natural thing. "Academician Chang is not only the leader of the Aviation Power Group and the Torch Laboratory, but also serves as the chief consultant of the Industrial Construction Committee. In theory, he can be involved in any activities and projects related to the Industrial Construction Committee."

"It's just an industry conference. There's no need to make a fuss."

"I'm not surprised by this." Wu Minghan waved his hand and explained, "I just saw that it's not on the agenda..."

Zhou Xue smiled and said, "If you just attend the meeting without making a report or speaking, of course you won't see it on the agenda..."

This explanation is actually a bit blunt.

According to convention, if there are academician-level scholars attending the conference, this will be marked in the conference materials in advance to reflect the characteristic of "our conference is pretty awesome."

The fact that there is no mention of this in the material actually means that Chang Haonan's attendance at the meeting was a temporary decision.

But everyone already had an idea in their minds, so no one asked any further questions.

Zhou Xue seemed to want to talk to Wu Minghan and He Xin about lithography machines, but at this moment, the bell in the conference hall rang, indicating that the conference was about to begin, and the conference staff began to guide the guests in.

Everyone's private communication had to be temporarily stopped, and they followed the crowd into the main venue with their own thoughts.

The first person to take the stage to deliver a speech was naturally Luan Wenjie, the head of the Industrial and Construction Committee.

However, he is an aerospace expert and is not proficient in the fields of communications and semiconductors. Therefore, the content of his speech was mainly about the country's strategic layout in the information industry, especially in the field of 5G communications:

“…The formulation of global 5G standards has entered the sprint stage. This is a key battle to reshape the global communications industry landscape in the next decade. We must and will strive for a dominant position…”

People of Luan Wenjie's generation who are engaged in aerospace are essentially military men.

So the voice is loud and full of momentum:

"The implementation of the standards depends on a solid industrial foundation. Millions of 5G base stations will be deployed, billions of smart terminals will be produced, and core network equipment will need to be fully upgraded... All of this is built on the same foundation - advanced, self-controllable semiconductor manufacturing capabilities..."

"..."

These powerful words accurately hit the hearts of all the industry professionals in the audience, and made Wu Minghan and others feel a heavy pressure.

But Huaxin International is a wafer production company and is not responsible for equipment research and development.

All he can do now is to continue to strive for excellence in craftsmanship.

Afterwards, He Xin took the stage on behalf of HiSilicon and presented an ambitious product roadmap.

The huge screen clearly presents the concept of the "Tiangang" series chips for 5G base stations and the performance targets of the next-generation flagship mobile phone SoC.

Its key indicators such as computing power, energy efficiency ratio, and integration have already reached the world's top level.

"Our design capabilities, combined with the rapid progress of domestic EDA tools, have reached world-class levels!" He Xin said in a sonorous tone, but then changed the subject, "But at present, the most severe challenge we face is the serious shortage of advanced process tape-out capacity! Not only can we not meet our own needs, but the high-end chip designs of many domestic innovative companies are also stuck at the manufacturing stage!"

"..."

……

Throughout the morning meeting, Chang Haonan sat quietly in an inconspicuous position in the VIP seats.

He did not speak, asked no questions, and even his expression rarely changed. He just listened attentively to every speaker and occasionally made a few notes in the notebook in front of him. He was like a calm observer or a hidden magnet.

Even though he was silent, he still attracted the attention of those who knew him. His existence itself was a silent signal.

The morning meeting ended and the crowd began to disperse.

Chang Haonan did not leave immediately. Instead, he stood up and walked straight towards Academician Wu Minghan, who was surrounded by several colleagues for a conversation.

"Hello, Academician Wu." Chang Haonan extended his hand and spoke in a calm and respectful tone.

Wu Minghan quickly ended his conversation with others, turned around, and held Chang Haonan's hands with both hands: "Academician Chang! Hello, hello! I didn't expect you to attend the meeting. The topic just now..." He thought Chang Haonan came to discuss the content of the conference.

Chang Haonan smiled slightly and got straight to the point, but avoided the focus of the conference: "Academician Wu, this time I came here to learn about Huaxin International's capabilities in more mature processes."

This statement was a bit too ambiguous. Wu Minghan rubbed his hair with the pen cap: "What exactly do you mean?"

There were many people in the conference hall, and Li Yabo's experiment had not yet produced any results, so Chang Haonan was not ready to directly announce his results.

But change the angle.

"Our Torch Group, together with Torch-CB Ferrari, is currently actively developing the fields of intelligent manufacturing and industrial Internet of Things." He mentioned the resources he controls, "This area has a huge demand for chips, and unlike traditional industrial control needs, the requirements for product performance are no less than those on the consumer side."

"I don't know... What is the current production capacity of Sinochip at 48nm and finer process nodes? Can it support the demand for large-scale, cost-effective tape-outs?"

As an insider, Wu Minghan certainly knows that no matter how advanced the industrial control needs are, they are unlikely to be the same as those on the consumer side, so the other party's questions are likely to have other intentions.

So I answered more tactfully:

"Academician Chang, for smart manufacturing and the Internet of Things, the main focus should be on 48nm, or the more mature 65nm and 90nm nodes. These are the mainstays of our current production capacity. After years of polishing, the yield and stability are already quite good, and the cost is also competitive, but..."

He changed the subject and looked at another angle:

“If you want to use deep ultraviolet equipment like NXT:1950i to manufacture the ‘finer nodes’ you mentioned, you have to combine off-axis illumination, phase-shift masks, and multiple exposures to achieve a resolution higher than the theoretical limit…Technically, we are indeed working on this and have achieved some results.”

Chang Haonan also saw that the other party understood, so he asked: "What about the mass production capacity and yield rate?"

Wu Minghan shook his head, his tone becoming serious: "In theory, the resolution can be doubled every time the number of exposures is doubled, but the actual problem is very serious..."

Having said that, he slightly quickened his pace and came to a slightly secluded place with Chang Haonan:

"On the one hand, these technologies are extremely complex, and process integration is not yet fully mature. Fluctuations in any link will lead to failure. On the other hand, multiple exposures greatly increase the number of process steps and overlay alignments. Each alignment will introduce tiny errors, which will accumulate and lead to poor uniformity of feature sizes on the chip and a surge in critical size deviations..."

“In general, double exposure may be able to achieve higher feature sizes than 48nm, but the yield rate and cost are not easy to control, and the production capacity cannot be increased. As for quadruple exposure…”

Wu Minghan's facial muscles twitched: "The theoretical performance is almost comparable to EUV, but there is a high probability that not even a single product will be produced."

Chang Haonan listened quietly, without any expression of surprise or disappointment on his face, as if he had already expected this answer.

He did not comment on the dilemma Wu Minghan described, neither asking for details nor expressing his opinion.

He was silent for a few seconds, and then made a request that surprised Wu Minghan even more, but also seemed reasonable to him:

"Academician Wu, I understand what you said. I deeply understand the difficulty of technological breakthroughs." He paused, "I wonder if it is convenient... I would like to visit the wafer factory of Sinochip International in person in the near future... No special arrangements are needed, just to see the most authentic status of your production line and process."

In fact, this request is a bit rash.

After all, Huaxin International is a company, and Chang Haonan also owns a company. Although they do not constitute direct competition, it is not appropriate for you to ask to go to the core area to take a look.

But Wu Minghan was thinking: Academician Chang Haonan suddenly showed great interest in chip manufacturing? And it was a mature process? He even wanted to see the production line in person?

This is definitely not just a simple investigation of smart manufacturing chip suppliers.

Thinking of the cutting-edge research results of the Torch Laboratory...

Wu Minghan's heart couldn't help but beat faster.

He had a vague feeling that if this visit took place, it might bring some unexpected turning points.

"Of course it's convenient!" Wu Minghan agreed, risking his own business. "I'll contact someone right away to arrange it! When do you think is a good time? We'll cooperate with you throughout the process!"